University of Texas at San Antonio
ER-18: Sustainability Research Incentives

UTSA has several research programs providing funding for interdisciplinary research in sustainability-related areas. These include: 1 - The Energy Research Grants Program (ERG): This joint program by the UTSA Office of the Vice President for Research and the Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute provides up to $100,000 of seed grant to fund multidisciplinary energy research. The program challenges faculty to develop novel approaches to technology insertion, policy formation and community interactions for the purpose of reducing energy costs, improving systems reliability and assuring responsible environmental stewardship. 2- The CONNECT Program: This collaborative seed grant program aims to stimulate inter-organizational research between Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and UTSA in fields such as Advanced Materials, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Energy, Environment, Security, and Manufacturing. Each organization commits up to $100,000 to fund one proposal that involves a minimum of two Principal Investigators (one from each organization), to conduct research that leads to proposals for externally-funded collaborative research programs. 3- The Collaborative Research Seed Grant Program (CRSGP): This program provides up to $110,000 in grants to start new and innovative collaborative and multidisciplinary research programs for research in one or a combination of the following areas: health, security, energy and the environment, human and social development or sustainability. 4- The START-R Program: This program provides up to $15,000 for grants to start new and innovative research programs for full time, tenured and tenure-track faculty for research in one or a combination of UTSA’s core competency areas: health, security, energy and the environment, human and social development or sustainability.